Louise Pietrewicz, the Cutchogue woman who was missing for more than 51 years before her remains were discovered in Southold last month, died from a series of gunshot wounds to the torso, the Suffolk County Medical Examiner’s office has told her family. (more…)

Recent news that the remains of Louise Pietrewicz were found in grave six feet beneath the basement in the house that once belonged to her married boyfriend, William Boken, rocked this small town — and beyond. Finally, it was the answer to a 51-year-old mystery.READ

The truth arrived in Southold Monday morning when Suffolk County investigators and town detectives dug deep into the basement of a house on Lower Road and found skeletal remains wrapped in burlap. READ

Remains believed to be those of Louise Pietrewicz of Cutchogue, who vanished without a trace in October 1966, were unearthed Monday in the basement of the Southold house her married boyfriend, former Southold police officer William Boken, shared with his wife and children. READ

Family and tradition are two things Ed Dart has always valued. The 67-year-old Peconic resident grew up in Southold watching his parents experiment with new ways to make a profit from their farm, which has been in the Dart family for 101 years. They built what he claims was one of the North Fork’s first farm stands in 1945. And his father, Fred Dart, established a retail vegetable route, delivering fresh produce to summer and weekend communities on the North Fork.

Like his parents, Mr. Dart also wanted to think of a new way to help keep the legacy alive.

In 1967, while preparing for his first year at the University of Rhode Island, he pitched his parents the idea of raising Christmas trees on the then 35-acre farm.

Mr. Dart recalled planting the first crop before he left for college and hoping the trees would be ready to sell by the time he graduated. But it wasn’t until 1975 that they sold the trees, he said, and he was shocked that they were a hit.

“Everybody came in, bought all of our trees and there were none left,” he said. (more…)